Particularly in the case of motor vehicle steering tie rods and antiroll bars, it is known to provide these chassis components with an elastic unit having a damper function. The elastic unit is loaded in substantially axial direction and thus permits limited axial travel, particularly to reduce or compensate any application of a sudden load. The damping of shocks introduced in the corresponding chassis component substantially reduces wear. Mounting the dampers on steering tie rods reduces steering susceptibility to shocks, reduces or compensates noise transmission, and provides a softer steering response. The market share of hydraulic and electrohydraulic assisted steering systems is increasing. Dampers will substantially reduce wear in the ball-and-socket joints of steering tie rods, racks, pinions, and the entire bearing, irrespective of whether the damper units are used in connection with axial or ball-and-socket joints.
In addition to their use for motor vehicle chassis components, these dampers may be used for general vehicle components such as the elastic suspension of motors and structural components, for example driver's cabs.
The prior art elastic units used as dampers have been formed by rubber-metal elements whose elastic parts are connected with the metal parts in such a way that the elastic parts are essentially subject to thrust loads. These known rubber-metal elements have the disadvantage that increased loads, particularly continuous loads, may cause the connection between metal and elastic parts to be loosened so that the dampers become ineffective.
To exclude these disadvantages as far as possible, the connecting surfaces between the metal and elastic components of the prior art rubber-metal elements must be made correspondingly large, which frequently causes space and installation-related problems. A further disadvantage of the prior art rubber-metal elements is that the application of a protective surface coating such as anode/cathode dip coating is limited because the related high temperatures would destroy the elastic elements and their bond with the metal elements. The coating of the metal parts is also limited because such coatings do not form a suitable bonding base for the elastic element. The bonding surface would therefore have to be reproduced after coating, which would entail additional costs.
The object of the invention is to create a damper of the above described type, which may be modularly assembled from simply designed and inexpensively producible separate parts for different applications and which requires little space and yet is distinguished by high reliability and a long component life.